"Margaret Washington Murray"[March 9,1865-June 26.1925]

Was the third wife of Booker T. Washington and she was Lady Principal of Tuskegee Normal and

Industrial institute,now Tuskegee University.Margaret was one of ten children born to to sharecroppers.Her father was of Irish descent and her mother was African American.Her father died when she seven,and eventually was led to be foster by Quakers.As a child she spent much of her time reading quickly excelled in school.by the age of fourteen,Margaret was so advanced in her studies that the school offered her a teaching position.Determined to further her teaching career,at age nineteen,Margaret enrolled in Fisk University,where she completed the college preparatory course in five years and college in four.It was at Fisk that Margaret met Booker.Regarding her as a model student,he asked her to take over the position of Lady Principal,formerly held by his deceased second wife.By 1890,she was writing to Booker to express her deep feelings for him.He proposed the following year and,after some hesitation,Margaret accepted his proposal and they were married in 1893.She and Booker shared a home with his relatives and his children from his previous marriage until "The Oaks,"the homestead of which was built for their family was constructed in 1901.Booker was reluctant to share his feelings with Margaret,and often left her to tend to his children while he was away on business.Booker never got over the loss of his first two wives,he believed that Margaret provided a well-ordered household,and the two were generally happy with their marriage.During her tenure as Lady Principal of Tuskegee,she also created the Tuskegee Women's Club,and merged local organizations with women clubs to help improve the values and liberation of womanhood in African American of the Jim Crow south.She is credited with co-founding the National Association of Colored Women in 1896.She founded country schools,taught women how to live and attend to their homes,worked for the improvement of prisons,stareted the Mt.Meigs school for boys and girls and an industrial school for girls at Tuskegee,and constantly worked for the betterment of the poor and neglected.In 1912,she became the fifth president for the National Association of Colored Women.After the death of her husband in 1915,Margaret remained,a powerful source in the women's liberation movement and improving the educational system for African Americans.She became deeply involved in domestic education for mothers in Tuskegee and in supporting schools for children at surrounding plantations.Like the programs advocated by her husband,she focused on domestic and vocational education.Margaret became involved in interracial cooper and participated in the path breaking Memphis Women's inter-Racial Conference in 1920.She remained at "The Oaks"until her death.She is buried at the University cemetery,adjacent to her husband's burial site.